malewithatail
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Posts: 3,963 
Likes: 1,380
Location: Northern Rivers NSW
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Post by malewithatail on Aug 25, 2023 10:37:53 GMT 10
We use Bunnings green shade cloth, with a plastic poly pipe frame to stretch it over.
Also, if you get caught out with a first, gently water the plants before the sun gets over the horizon. that un-thaws them slowly. There will still be damage though if they are not covered.
No matter how paranoid or conspiracy minded you are, what the Government is actually doing is worse than you can imagine.
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Post by spinifex on Feb 4, 2024 11:01:16 GMT 10
Click on images to enlarge
1. New vegetable patch on new property in Riverland SA. Getting used to dealing with frosty winter nights down to minus 4c. Brocolli works great in winter. Snowpea planting will be earlier and later this year as I discovered the plants are frost tolerant but the blossoms and peas are not. Planting an early snowpea crop right now. Will to a late one in june. Also in this pic are a patch of pontiac potatos and in the background a mulch/compost layer of weeds which will be buried in a trench together with dead carp from the river. I also use mulched clover that I collect in big quantities from the fruit block. 2. Some of the harvest in september. By this stage, frost was over and the snowpeas set huge amounts of pods. 3. Summer harvest. Lots of sweetcorn cobs, cucumbers, green beans, yellow squash and an angled Luffa. 4. Cherry tomato harvest. 2 weeks worth of fruit from a single plant. Being processed for drying. 5. A few luffas. These things are a revelation. Exceptional plants (see pics 6 and 7) that don't get attacked by pests or diseased and produce a lovely vegetable that is like a zuchinni crossed with a stringless green bean in flavour. Texture is similar to zichinni but firmer. 6 & 7 are the Luffa vine and fruit. 8. Okra in flower. These grow very well here too.
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Post by Stealth on Feb 5, 2024 13:14:37 GMT 10
Amazing! I tried to grow luffa last season but it didn't end well. Probably planted them too late in the year, they weren't established enough to cope with the heavy sun we had mid-summer.
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Post by spinifex on Feb 6, 2024 19:13:54 GMT 10
My luffa vines have withstood 40+ degree days on several occasions without complaint. As well as humid conditions which caused my cucumbers, zucchini and squash to be stricken with powdery mildew. Its also not affected by 28 spot bugs which beat the heck out of all my other cucurbits. I'm waiting to see how my gourd vines perform ... I planted them very late.
Not sure if its significant but my soils here are a mix of red desert sands (where the vegetable patch is) and river silt (which I'm also going to establish a garden on for experimental purposes).
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